Midlanders react to Planned Parenthood gift

Midland Reporter-Telegram

Updated
1:16 am CDT, Friday, March 30, 2018

Michael
Pfeifer, retired bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo, leads the final Pro-Life
rally outside the Midland Planned Parenthood building on Aug. 30, 2013. An
unidentified donor has committed $9 million to build two Planned Parenthood
clinics in West Texas.

Michael Pfeifer, retired bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo, leads the final Pro-Life rally outside the Midland Planned Parenthood building on Aug. 30, 2013. An unidentified donor has committed $9 million

Michael
Pfeifer, retired bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo, leads the final Pro-Life
rally outside the Midland Planned Parenthood building on Aug. 30, 2013. An
unidentified donor has committed $9 million to build two Planned Parenthood
clinics in West Texas.

Michael Pfeifer, retired bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo, leads the final Pro-Life rally outside the Midland Planned Parenthood building on Aug. 30, 2013. An unidentified donor has committed $9 million

Following reports of a gift to help build two new Planned Parenthood clinics in West Texas, some Midlanders welcome the possible reappearance of the health center, while others oppose the idea.

An unnamed donor has committed $9 million to Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas to open two new health centers in this region, according to a Dallas Morning-News report. Another donor promised an additional $800,000.

Locations of the centers have not been determined, and the nonprofit hasn’t said whether the new clinics will perform abortions, according to the report. The Reporter-Telegram’s request for comment from Planned Parenthood on Thursday wasn’t immediately returned.

Services from the provider include screenings, testing for sexually transmitted infections, contraception and abortions, according to its website. Facilities in Midland and San Angelo closed in 2013, after Texas passed a law that put restrictions on abortion.

David Rosen, who previously served on the board for Planned Parenthood of West Texas, looks forward to clinics in the region, wherever they are built. Rosen said women, particularly those with lower-paying jobs, are underserved in this area.

“As far as I know, there are no abortion facilities west of Fort Worth, and people needing care must travel a long distance and take a lot of time off work to get to one of those facilities,” Rosen said. “So, lower-income people are very adversely affected by the lack of facilities.”

But others in Midland don’t welcome the idea of Planned Parenthood coming back to West Texas. The possibility of the nonprofit reappearing here is “proof that the devil … never sleeps,” according to Mike Banschbach of Pro-Life Midland.

“We hope that the faithful rise up to oppose Planned Parenthood’s agenda of supporting sexual license of any kind, taking the lives of pre-born children through contraceptives and dismemberment, corrupting the morals of youth and propagating the racial discrimination of their founder, Margaret Sanger,” Banschbach said via email.

Msgr. James Bridges, who previously served as pastor of St. Stephen’s Catholic Church, said the closing of Planned Parenthood was a victory for people who fought for the unborn. He discourages support for the nonprofit.

“I know they do provide services for indigent women, but the overall objection we have is… aborting children before they are born,” he said.

The Planned Parenthood website lists Texas health centers mostly near Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. The timing of the two West Texas facilities hasn’t been determined, according to the Dallas Morning-News report.